He yanked on my hair, whipping my head back. “You are such a bitch.”
I started to smile, my hand still cupping him, and I ran my thumb down the side of him, but his mouth covered mine. I surged up, my hand going to his jeans and I started to draw his zipper down. His tongue thrust in the same time my hand snaked inside his jeans, finding the opening of his boxers and I had him in the palm of my hand.
“Hey…oh!”
Bass ripped through the air as the back door of the Quail opened.
Joe stood there, taking us both in. “Uh. Sorry.” He started to close the door, but paused and grimacing, he looked back. “I need Dusty to come in and work. We’re slammed.”
I took a breath, my chest rising against Stone’s and falling as I released it.
Play time was over. Knowing it and feeling it, Stone moved his mouth to my ear, the one closest to where Joe was standing. He spoke in a normal sounding voice, “Take your hand off my dick.”
“Shit.” From Joe.
I did so, releasing him, but my thumb ran over his tip as a parting goodbye.
“Pull your hand out of my pants.”
I did so, half-laughing as I felt his hand flexing to cup the back of my head.
“Now.” He nipped at my earlobe with his teeth. “Zip me up.”
I moved so I could use both hands to close his pants. Once I was done, Stone pulled my head back to his and he had one last hot and demanding kiss for me. Releasing me, he stepped back. “She’s all yours.” He was staring right at me as he said those words and I got the message.
He walked away, his back turned toward the line at the end of the alley. And he put his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunching forward, pulling his shirt to outline his back, and I almost called him back. I almost gave in to him, told him it was a complete lie, but my teeth sank into my lip because I couldn’t.
He was done.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
I was not proud of what I did. But it was necessary.
I was flicking a tear away when Cammie came over, her hip bumping into mine. She turned so her tray of drinks was angled away and said to me, “I’m still on a high about that delicious quarterback, but we have to process that later because that entire table came in and asked for you.”
I followed her gaze, and I had to smile, something I never thought I would’ve done a month ago. The table was full of housemates and their boyfriends, i.e., the football team. Just like with Stone, all eyes went to them.
She saw and her eyebrows went up. “You know them? They’re going to be the rowdiest group here.”
Was Cammie not here when they came in? I tried to remember, but I don’t think she was.
“I live with half of them. They’ll be fine for me.”
Both her eyebrows shot up. “No kidding?”
“No kidding.”
She eyed them again. “Tell ’em congratulations for me. They kicked some Homecoming ass today.”
I scooped up the tab from my emptied table and patted her arm. “I sure will, and they sure did.”
She laughed as I moved past her, tucking the bill and tip in my apron and pulling out an order sheet. I was getting good enough where I rarely needed it, but one just never knew. Coming up to the table where Wyatt, Mia, Noel, Savannah, Nacho, Lisa, Nicole, and Dent were sharing, along with two more tables around them that housed the rest of the football team along with more of their party friends, I gave ’em a big smile. “Congratulations, guys!”
They threw up their arms. “Heeeey!!”
The rest of the bar thought I was cheering them and they all joined in, yelling out congratulations.
Once they died down, Nacho leaned toward me. He was the closest and his beefy arms were resting on the table. “You watched our game.” He looked happy about that.
“I did.”
Wyatt had pulled his phone out and he read from the screen, “Nice fucking tight ass. Tell Mia she did good picking you for your second score from the thirty.” He was beaming as he looked up at me. “You’re awesome.”
I tipped my head back, laughing, and actually enjoying it for once. “Thank you, and I meant what I wrote. You guys did really great today.”
Nicole asked, “Why didn’t you sit with us?”
Oh.
That.
I was wincing on the inside. “Because I was actually working. One of the boxes, but I could still see. I made sure to see.”
She frowned, but didn’t respond.
Mia’s eyes narrowed. “What box?”
Fuck’s sake. Really?
I shrugged. “Just one of them.”
“There’s just two boxes that get servers during games. The coach’s box, which a bunch of the Kings’ players and families were using today, or a TV exec box. Which one were you in?”
Why did she continue to hate me? I thought we’d moved past this. But I lied through my teeth, “Must’ve been the exec one. Funny. I thought they seemed a bit Hollywood.”
She pressed her lips together and I knew what she was thinking. Liar. Yeah, well. I was. I didn’t care.
“So, what’ll everyone have?”
They gave me their orders and I weaved through the crowd to go put it in. Mia must’ve followed me, because as soon as I got to the register, she was next to me and scowling. “Why’d you lie?”
I paused, eyeing her. She was glancing over her shoulder. One hand on the counter by the register and the other tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She moved as Cammie had to get behind the bar. Kneeling down, Cammie shot me a look.
I shrugged, but Mia was back to scowling at me.
“What do you mean?’
“I know you were in the other box. I know Ben from class and I ran into him after the game. We chatted. He told me about a blue-haired girl helping him today. That was you.”
“So?”
I finished putting in the order and went to fill a pitcher of beer. Mia waited, going right with me.
“So?! So, you shouldn’t have to put yourself in a situation like that. I looked up Stone’s parents. His mom looks like a bitch.”
An argument could totally be made here, be one to know one, but I moved to another table and gave them the new pitcher, pulling the empty one. All eyes went to Mia, because she was one of the blessed and holy people. She just didn’t get it in that moment. All eyes would be on me until she and the entire table left, but they’d had my back the last month. I could make Stone hate me, but I didn’t have it in me to make them hate me. There was no point.
Then it hit me what was actually going on.
Mia was worried about me.
Mia. Bitch Mia. Bully Mia. Mia who I thought would’ve laughed if I had killed myself when I first moved in, that Mia. Now she was the one following me around at my job, interrogating me why I put myself in that situation.
A wave of emotion swept over me and I put the emptied pitcher on a nearby table. Ignoring the ‘hey!’ from the girls there, I grabbed Mia in for a hug.
She stiffened, her hands coming to my side. “What. Is. This?” Yes. She said it just like that.
I just laughed, hugging her tighter before stepping back and picking up the empty pitcher again. “Nothing. Just felt a hug coming on.”
She backed up, her mouth fully sneering at me. “Well. Don’t.” She shook her arms as if to get the touch of me off of her. “Wyatt’s the only one who touches me.”